1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charged particle beam drawing method and apparatus for drawing patterns which correspond to figures included in a drawing data, in a drawing area on a workpiece by a charged particle beam.
2. Description of Related Art
As is known in the prior art, a charged particle beam drawing apparatus draws patterns corresponding to figures included in cells included in a drawing data which has at least figure hierarchy and cell hierarchy, in a drawing area on a workpiece, by a charged particle beam. For example, the charged particle beam drawing apparatus is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767.
As described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, after the drawing data corresponding to the drawing area on the workpiece is inputted to the charged particle beam drawing apparatus, the drawing data is transferred and stored to an input buffer in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus.
In the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, rectangular stripe frames are formed by dividing the drawing area on the workpiece, and block frames are formed by dividing the stripe frames.
In the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, a data corresponding to a block frame which is a part of the drawing data corresponding to the drawing area on the workpiece, is read from the input buffer by an input data dividing module (localizer, distributor) (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-64862 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-85248), and temporarily stored to an output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor).
In the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, a data corresponding to a block frame (data of block frame unit) is transferred from the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor) to one of converters which constitute a converter module.
In the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, a data corresponding to a block frame transferred to the converter, is converted into a drawing apparatus internal format data which is an intermediate data for forming a shot data, by the converter, and in parallel, another data corresponding to another block frame transferred to another converter, is converted into another drawing apparatus internal format data by the converter.
In the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, if a cell extends over a first block frame and a second block frame which is adjacent to the first block frame, a cell data is stored to the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor) as a part of a data of the first block frame, and the cell data is stored to the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor) as a part of a data of the second block frame.
Namely, in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, the cell data is repetitively stored to the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor) as the part of the data of the first block frame and as the part of the data of the second block frame.
Accordingly, in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, if a plurality of cell data are repetitively stored to the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor), it is necessary to increase the capacity of the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor), in order to avoid lack of the capacity of the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor).
In the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, if the cell extends over the first block frame and the second block frame which is adjacent to the first block frame, the cell data is transferred from the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor) to a memory of a first converter as the part of the data of the first block frame, and the cell data is transferred from the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor) to a memory of a second converter as the part of the data of the second block frame.
Namely, in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, the cell data is repetitively transferred from the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor) as the part of the data of the first block frame and as the part of the data of the second block frame.
Accordingly, in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, if a plurality of cell data are repetitively transferred from the output buffer of the input data dividing module (localizer, distributor), transfer time of the plurality of cell data increases.
In the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, if the cell extends over the first block frame and the second block frame which is adjacent to the first block frame, the cell data is stored to the memory of the first converter as the part of the data of the first block frame, and the cell data is stored to the memory of the second converter as the part of the data of the second block frame.
Accordingly, in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218767, if the plurality of cell data are repetitively stored to the memories of the converters, it is necessary to increase the capacity of the memories of the converters, in order to avoid lack of the capacity of the memories of the converters.
In a charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218857, a data corresponding to a group of small areas (a data of small areas group unit) which includes block frames, is read from an input buffer and is localized.
However, in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218857, a data of small areas group unit which is longer than a data corresponding to a block frame (a data of block frame unit), is converted into a drawing apparatus internal format data by one converter, and in parallel, another data of small areas group unit is converted into another drawing apparatus internal format data by another converter.
Namely, in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218857, longer time is required for a convert process than a charged particle beam drawing apparatus, wherein a data of block frame unit is converted into a drawing apparatus internal format data by one converter, and in parallel, another data of block frame unit is converted into another drawing apparatus internal format data by another converter.
Accordingly, in the charged particle beam drawing apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-218857, longer idle time of a converter from the end of convert process of the converter to the end of convert process of all converters is required than a charged particle beam drawing apparatus, wherein a data of block frame unit is converted into a drawing apparatus internal format data by one converter, and in parallel, another data of block frame unit is converted into another drawing apparatus internal format data by another converter.